Friday, July 26, 2013

I think Princess Kate is Reading my Blog and The Awful German Language

People, I am beyond excited!

A while ago, Nick helped me understand Google Analytics, because, clearly, anything beyond sending emails is way above my set of skills. And it is already paying off!
This very morning, at 12.09pm, I discovered that Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge is probably reading my blog!

All the evidence I need.

I don't even know how to handle it. Aside from being honored, I would like to say, Kate, please just take care of that precious little baby of yours and get some rest, you can catch up on my posts later!

There is another thing that has been on my mind few days now - and I am blaming Mark Twain. He started it!
I have seen people posting about the German language on Facebook and twitter for as long as I have been signed up. Of course, I understand that it's really funny to share them with Germans - and some of them are admittedly hilarious! No question about that.

I have been teaching German for a few years now and at the beginning of every German 101 seminar, there are students, who mention the harshness of the German language. As a native speaker, this would never come to my mind. In my head, we all sound lovely and incredibly friendly. (As I typed this and went to look for pictures for this post, I found this!)

Really?!

Aside from how I feel about it - what's wrong with sounding harsh?! It may help you get your point across. It can be a wonderful thing, people!

However, one thing is the harshness, the other thing is the difficulty.

Now, In case you are interested in a few of my thoughts on German, keep reading. Otherwise, I will be back with a more exciting post tomorrow. Maybe.

4 Reasons why German is a wonderful language! Here it goes:

1.) In German, you can create sentences that are so rich in information that you wonder how anyone would be satisfied with simple and short main clauses. This way, you can connect and separate, transition and overlay the content of each sentence and include your sentence structure in the meaning of the sentence. Everyone reading literature will appreciate the depth of a performative sentence or text. All those who don't read - you should.

Beautiful.(Taken from Kafka's Verwandlung)

2.) You can not only create beautiful sentences, but also words. Most people already know that German is open to neologistic creations that are entirely up to you. Oooh the love!
This way, you are able to describe things down to the smallest detail - and this descriptiveness is one of my favorite things!

3.) Gender. Yes, we do know that a table doesn't have a biological gender. However, since we have sentences that are incredibly long, we need to "mark" elements with a gender. Otherwise, you would get lost and not be able to tell which information is relating to which word.
So basically, you are the reason we have those. Stop complaining.

That's it. For now.
I know, I may be biased, but I want everyone to know how beautiful this language really is. Plenty of schools are shutting down their German language programs and I wouldn't be surprised if it had partially to do with the prejudice that people have about it.

However, once the millions of readers have seen this post, they will, of course, want to take German right away and have beautiful discussions with me about the wonderful literature they now have access to! You will understand that Princess Kate will be first in line, but we can talk right after.

What is your native language?Do you think it sounds lovely?Do you speak a second (third, fourth...) language? Which one?

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This is me

Hello and welcome to Stina On The Move! My name is Christina and I am an aspiring runner, who just moved to Berlin.
Originally, I am from Germany, but I met my husband in the US, where we lived in Maryland for a few years. Life has taken us to several places and we love to explore everything close and far from us. We have a dog, Lucy, who moved with us and is keeping us company.
My blog is about running, food, living in a new place, and randomness along the way.
I am always happy to meet new people, so feel free to email me!